Endometriosis

Well, my body made the decision for me as to whether to pursue IUI #2 or endo surgery. I got mono! What monogamous adult gets freaking mono!? As if having Covid over New Year's wasn't enough! I blame my students because the germs that 30 3rd graders bring to the class each day is astounding! Boy, is 2023 off to a fantastic start. Silver lining though, I was not allowed to do an IUI due to mono so I scheduled an appointment with the endo specialist SGF recommended.

I was able to do a virtual meeting with her because her offices are either 45 min away or almost 2 hours depending on the day of the week. I also wanted to try and save my sick leave as much as possible because I have been eating it up. My principal is amazing and arranged for me to have coverage for 30-45 minutes while I had my initial consult. Our school building is old though and cell service is spotty, let alone a video chat. I ended up sitting outside on the sidewalk for half of it until it started to rain! The new doctor said that all of my symptoms sound like endometriosis especially with my family history, but nothing can be confirmed without surgery. It is called a laparoscopy and is invasive. She said there is no guarantee that it will affect fertility, but it has the potential to improve my quality of life. I don't know about you, but fearing fainting on the toilet like Elvis is NOT fun. What if it happened in the middle of teaching a lesson?! So I decided to proceed and scheduled the surgery over spring break.

On April 13th, I had the laparoscopy. We drove almost 2 hours to a hospital just outside of DC as the ass crack of dawn. There were moments when Michael was not allowed in the room due to Covid protocols still being present, but it was alright. He was there for the important moments like helping me change into the super stylish surgery underwear after they had already put all my IVs in.

Guess what?! THEY FOUND ENDO! I felt SOOOO validated. It was not a ton, but stage one on the outside of the uterus. The removed it and left me with 3 small incisions on my stomach. I was felt so relieved that they found something, removed it, and had hope for any and all next steps we decided on.

Recovery was ROUGH! The surgery was way more intense than I imagined. It was challenging to to anything from walking up right to putting on clothes. The gas they use to help them see your insides better settled in my shoulders and it was probably the most painful thing those first few days. I used a heating pad and moved as much as I could in an effort to get it to dissipate, but it was on its own timeline. Once that improved though, I felt every ounce of the discomfort of my incisions/ surgical sites. It was a combination of feeling like I did thousands of sit-ups with random pricks of searing pains. Being off for spring break was not enough time. I had to tack a few extra days on because it hurt to stand for more than a few minutes and you can't teach elementary school from a chair.

One of the biggest challenges was constipation. Both anesthesia and pain meds can cause this, so when you add a super full belly to the already existing tenderness of that area... it was not pretty. I felt like a balloon about to pop! I was taking Miralax twice a day since surgery and it didn't do anything. I was desperate to go! That is when my husband came to the rescue! Have you ever heard of a fleet enema? It is basically like a vaginal douche, but it goes... well... in the back. I can't say Michael doesn't love me because he helped me out as I couldn't twist or bend to administer it myself. Poor dude! It worked though and I was feeling much better.

As I was healing over the next few weeks and had my follow up appointment with the doctor, I got the all clear to continue fertility treatment. There was just one last hiccup to overcome: my middle incision, just above my belly button, became infected. It became red and puffy and also oozed pus. It would sting and be sensitive to clothing. So naturally, I put a band aid on it and called my doctor for an antibiotic. Little did I know, that I am apparently allergic to this new box of band aids! I am not allergic to latex or anything, but perhaps this particular glue. So not only is the incision red and infected, but I know had big red welts all around it from the allergic reaction. Just my luck! I ended up getting gauze pads and medical tape and just putting it over the whole area. Even with the antibiotics, it definitely got worse before it got better. It wasn't until I took the last pill in the bottle that it started to take a turn for the better. Hopefully all of this wackiness will be worth it and be the key to our success in getting pregnant.